Soundwaves

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Soundwaves was the first dedicated letters page printed in The Transformers. Hosted by the Decepticon Soundwave himself, Soundwaves ran for 53 issues, between issue 22 and and issue 74.

TFWiki has a transcribed archive of every Soundwaves page  in chronological order, but on our page here, we're grouping titbits by topic.

Note that, before the instalment of Soundwaves in issue 28, answers were still written as from the perspective of Marvel staffers. We're presenting information gleaned from these answers in italics.

Soundwave(s)

Soundwave's personality and quirks

Soundwave permits "the carbon-based entities that construct toy facsimiles of both he and his fellow Decepticons" to refer to him as "Cassette Man". To everyone else he's Soundwave, or "Sir".[24]

Prior to their debut, Soundwave referred to the Constructicons as his "Decepticon friends" and "new colleagues".[28]

When asked why the Decepticons and Autobots don't simply work together, Soundwave decided the letter writer had the human condition of insanity. When told that, if he were crossed with a cake, he'd be a gateau blaster, he considered setting Ravage on the sender.[28]

Soundwave considered a Transformers-themed "My first is in..." riddle to be "constructive prose [...] worthy of great praise", likely because the answer was a Decepticon.[28] Similarly, he considered a letter writer's brother to have the right idea in collecting Decepticon toys.[30]

Soundwave thought he came across very well in the cartoon.[28]

He considers newspaper to be a primitive form of communication.[29]

He was insulted to receive a letter addressed to an Autobot (specifically, Ratchet). He considered it a kindness that the artist  rendered Ratchet with a Decepticon insignia in "The Worse of Two Evils!".  [29] He was also insulted to place lower on a list of a reader's favourite toys than Jazz and Optimus Prime (but not Megatron),[30] and said the suggestion of an Autobot equivalent letters page was insane.[33] He forbade anyone respond to a Stock Exchange request for a Sunstreaker toy in exchange for a Soundwave toy.[33]

Soundwave did not know what a birthday was.[30] When a letter writer asked Soundwave to print her son's birthday in the comic, Soundwave simply printed the reader's date of birth and age as though the boy had forgotten, not realising congratulations were in order.[32]

When a reader told Soundwave he collated all his Fact Files and Tech Specs, Soundwave said he found data correlation and filing to be appealing.[30]

Soundwave reckoned a Secret Artist  could be a valuable addition to the Decepticon propaganda campaign, though not if he kept sending in caricatures of Decepticons.[32]

Soundwave may have had ambitions for Decepticon leadership, but couldn't hint at the idea as then-commander Shockwave read his page.[32]

Announcing competition winners, he considered his congratulations to be the highest accolade.[32]

Soundwave only carries one spy cassette at a time.[33]

When a reader bragged that he could transform Ramjet in 5.2 seconds, Soundwave's response was that he could transform an Autobot into a pile of smoking wreckage in 0.8 seconds.[33]

The column

Soundwaves-the-column was absent from issues 26 and 27 while Soundwave-the-Decepticon overthrew the human letter answerers, seizing total control for himself. "YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."[28]

Soundwaves sent published letter writers mini-Autobot toys so they could prove their loyalty to the Decepticon cause. Soundwave sent a Beachcomber  toy to a reader who had lost his previous one "so you can have fun losing him again."[33]

The Transformers

The Transformers stories between "Man of Iron"  and "Raiders of the Last Ark"  inclusively take place before "The Last Stand". [22]

The Dinobots  were created from scans taken of the still-living dinosaurs of the Savage Land  in Antarctica.[28]

The Transformers retells the accurate details of "the trouncing we have given [the Autobots]", as opposed to other continuities such as the TV series which "use the basic facts, and build up stories around them."[29]

The Daily Bugle ran a story on February 7th, 1984, the sudden eruption of Mount St. Hilary  in Oregon –an eruption which, unbeknown to the general public, had reawakened the Ark  and restarted the conflict between the dormant Autobots and Decepticons.[29]

Soundwave deflected a question on who started the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons with "We did" and giggling.[32]

Transformers have no relatives.[32] Soundwave and Shockwave are related only in their contempt for Autobots "and humans who ask pointless questions."[34]

The New Cybertronic Dictograph  is a Transformer dictionary.[33]

Soundwave was offended at the suggestion that the Autobots had ever been victorious over the Decepticons and, as of issue 33, only noted a minor setback or two.[33]

Soundwave doubled down on calling his readers Carbon-Based Units after one expressed his dislike of the term.[34]

Autobots

Guardian 

Guardian could not transform into anything. Soundwave deflected a question about how a droid as big as Guardian could fit into the Ark as, at time of writing, Guardian could fit into a matchbox.[34]

Ironhide 

Ironhide and Ratchet's differing colours in the comic compared to their toys is jokingly blamed on a re-spray job.[24]

Mirage 

On receiving a letter claiming to be written by Mirage, Marvel staffers wondered how he could be writing while deactivated and strung up,  before considering the sluggishness of the postal service.[24]

Ratchet 

Ironhide and Ratchet's differing colours in the comic compared to their toys is jokingly blamed on a re-spray job.[24]

Soundwave was insulted to receive a letter addressed to Ratchet, but considered it a kindness that the artist  rendered Ratchet with a Decepticon insignia in "The Worse of Two Evils!".  He didn't reckon Ratchet could defeat Frenzy and Rumble.[29]

Decepticons

Buzzsaw 

Buzzsaw's nearest Earthen relative is the condor.[29]

Soundwave teased an Autobot-collecting reader that he should send Buzzsaw to help out her Decepticon-collecting brother.[30]

Insecticons 

The Insecticons have no individual subgroup leader.[33]

Laserbeak 

Laserbeak's nearest Earthen relative is the condor.[29]

Frenzy 

Soundwave balked at the suggestion that Ratchet could take Frenzy and Rumble in a fight, and told the reader to be thankful for not sending them around for a demonstration of power.[29]

Ravage 

Ravage's closest look-alike on Earth is the jaguar (as opposed to a dog).[25]

Soundwave considered setting Ravage on a letter writer who told him he'd be a gateau blaster if he were crossed with a cake.[28]

Rumble 

Soundwave balked at the suggestion that Ratchet could take Frenzy and Rumble in a fight, and told the reader to be thankful for not sending them around for a demonstration of power.[29]

Shockwave 

Shockwave was unfazed by a reader's hope that Megatron would trash him, as he considered "offensive action against Carbon-Based Units to be a waste of time".[30]

Shockwave is not Soundwave's brother, as Transformers have no relatives.[32] Soundwave and Shockwave are related only in their contempt for Autobots "and humans who ask pointless questions."[34]

Shockwave also read Soundwaves, meaning Soundwave had to keep his leadership ambitions on the down-low.[32] Despite a minor setback or two, Soundwave professed confidence in Shockwave's command.[33]

Believing that the toy makers could not accurately capture his true greatness, Shockwave forbade the release of a toy of him.[32]

Starscream 

Starscream certainly got his "come-uppance" from Ravage in "The Enemy Within!". [22] On the same topic, when a reader suggested that Starscream not upset Ravage again, Starscream reportedly responded with a suggestion that wasn't fit for print.[24]

Hasbro

Marvel UK staffers suggested that care must be taken with Transformers toys, as with anything that is constantly being changed between two configurations.[24] They also reckoned that if a toy breaks through no fault of the buyer, it should be replaced by the shop or manufacturer.[24]

Soundwave allows Hasbro to refer to him on occasion as "Cassette Man".[24]

An advert that first appeared in issue 20, in which the Decepticon strike planes' names are switched, is claimed to have been a deliberate mistake to make sure readers were paying attention. Yeah right.[25]

Believing that the toy makers could not accurately capture his true greatness, Shockwave forbade the release of a toy of him.[32]

The cartoon

Soundwave was under the impression the Transformers TV series  was a big hit from the letters in his mailbag, and thought he came across well in it.[28]

The TV series "use[s] the basic facts" of the Autobot/Decepticon conflict (as accurately related in the comic) "and build[s] up stories around them."[29] In particular, he noted the events of "Decepticon Dam-Busters!"  as being the basis of an episode of the cartoon  (though in real life it was, of course, the other way around).[33]

Machine Man

Soundwave had a file on Machine Man, though he considered the name ridiculous. He assumed that Brain changed Machine Man's eyes from red to white so as to not clash with his new red paint job. He also confirmed that Machine Man could still extend his arms and legs after having woken up in 2020. In his terms, Machine Man "exhibited some affection" for Jocasta.[34]

Jocasta

Sunset Bain's robot companion was Jocasta, who was once an Avenger. Machine Man had "exhibited some affection" for her.[34]

References